Since President Donald Trump's first day in office, he has ramped up his mass deportation plans. She reflects on the fear and uncertainty she now feels for her loved ones and herself.
Since entering office on January 20, , President Donald Trump has pushed forward with his plans for the mass deportation of immigrants , something that could be a boon to private prison companies and a hit to Social Security tax revenue. DACA is a policy introduced by the Obama administration in that grants relief from deportation to undocumented immigrants brought to the country as children.
The program's legality continues to be debated in court ; as of the time of publication, DACA recipients are still eligible to renew their protected status every two years, but new DACA applications are no longer being accepted. This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Jazmin, a year-old travel nurse and DACA recipient, about her experience as a Dreamer and how she has navigated the weeks since Trump took office. Jazmin's last name has been withheld for privacy reasons, but her identity and DACA status have been verified by Business Insider.
The following has been edited for length and clarity. I was six when I came here. I remember living in Mexico and my parents telling me we were going on a trip, which became a very long trip. I think it was really hard for them to tell a 6-year-old what was actually happening. When I got older, my mom explained that we had left because they wanted to protect my siblings and me from violence and poverty.
She had lived her whole life starving and she didn't want her kids to live the same life as her. My mom always told me, "Education will lead you places, so just make sure you stay educated. Receiving DACA was the best thing that ever happened to me. I worked 10 times harder because I felt like I needed to prove to this country that I was a good, educated person trying to do good.
